Josef Newgarden Bio
Josef Nicolai Newgarden, born on December 22, 1990, is an American racing driver who competes in the IndyCar Series. He drives the No. 2 Dallara/Chevrolet for Team Penske and is a two-time IndyCar Series champion, having secured the title in 2017 and 2019. Newgarden has also etched his name into motorsports history by winning the Indianapolis 500 in back-to-back years, taking the checkered flag in 2023 and 2024. Widely regarded as one of the most complete drivers in the series, he is celebrated for his versatility across every track type the IndyCar calendar offers.
Early Life and Background
Josef Nicolai Newgarden was born at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, and grew up in nearby Hendersonville. His parents chose the name Josef to honor his mother’s Danish heritage, giving him both American and Danish citizenship. He is the youngest of three siblings, with two older sisters, and credits his father, an avid fan of NASCAR, IndyCar, and Formula 1, with sparking his early love for racing by watching broadcasts together.
Before ever turning a wheel in competition, Newgarden played baseball, football, and basketball. He attended Pope John Paul II High School, where he was a former classmate and friend of NFL Pro Bowl wide receiver Golden Tate, as well as a former classmate of NASCAR driver Josh Berry. According to an interview on The Dale Jr. Download, his very first race vehicle was a motorized scooter purchased at a skate shop in Hendersonville. In 2001, he began competing in events across the country, and a year later, his father purchased him a kart to start his formal racing path.
Path to NASCAR and Open-Wheel Racing
Although Newgarden is primarily associated with IndyCar rather than NASCAR stock car racing, his early development followed a familiar American ladder through karting and junior open-wheel categories. At thirteen, he and his family traveled outside Tennessee to find a competitive karting environment, eventually landing at a facility in New Castle, Indiana, recently launched by IndyCar driver Mark Dismore. To stay efficient with funding, the family focused on local and regional championships rather than chasing a national schedule.
In his first full year of karting in 2005, Newgarden finished second and third in the Kart Racers of America Junior Can Championship and won the TAG World Championship in the junior division. He doubled down in 2006, securing two KRA Junior Can titles and repeating as TAG World Champion. By 2006 he had switched to open-wheel cars, competing in the Skip Barber Racing School Series and finishing second in the Southern Regional championship with three wins. He placed sixth in the 2007 BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda championship and improved to second in 2008. That same year, he became the first American driver ever to win the Formula Ford Festival in England.
Josef Newgarden Career
Early Career (2009–2011)
After his Formula Ford Festival triumph, Newgarden moved to England in 2009 to launch his European career. He competed in the British Formula Ford Championship, finishing as runner-up and leading the ultra-competitive series with nine race wins. He also entered the opening round of the Formula Palmer Audi season at Brands Hatch, taking two wins. In 2010, after his British Formula Three ride fell through when his main investor withdrew, he raced in the inaugural GP3 Series with Carlin Motorsport, recording a pole position at Hockenheimring and a best finish of fifth at Monza.
Newgarden returned to the United States in 2011 and joined Sam Schmidt Motorsports in the Indy Lights Series. He won his first race on the streets of St. Petersburg and added four more victories along with ten podium finishes in thirteen starts, clinching the Indy Lights championship with one race remaining. At New Hampshire, he lapped the entire field, becoming the first Indy Lights driver to do so since Thiago Medeiros in March 2004.
IndyCar Breakthrough (2012–2016)
On December 7, 2011, Newgarden was announced as the driver for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing, beginning his IndyCar Series career in 2012. He raced with the team through 2014, earning his first podium at the 2013 race in Baltimore and his second at Iowa Speedway in 2014. After Sarah Fisher and Ed Carpenter merged their operations for 2015, the team was known as CFH Racing, and Newgarden captured his first IndyCar victory at the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park. He added a second win at Toronto later that season and finished seventh in the championship standings.
In 2016, running under the Ed Carpenter Racing banner, Newgarden started the season with a podium at Barber and finished third in the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500. He suffered a broken hand and clavicle in a crash at Texas Motor Speedway but returned within two weeks. Twenty-eight days after that crash, he dominated the Iowa Corn 300, leading 282 of 300 laps to set a series record for most laps led in a race. He closed the year fourth in the standings, the highest non-Team Penske car in the field.
Team Penske Era (2017–Present)
Team Penske officially announced Newgarden as a driver for the 2017 season on October 5, 2016. He won his first race with the team in just his third start at Barber Motorsports Park, then reeled off four wins and nine podiums to capture his first IndyCar Series Championship. The victory made him the first American to win the Astor Cup since Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2012. In 2019, he won the season opener at St. Petersburg and added victories at Detroit, Texas, and Iowa, then clinched his second IndyCar title at Laguna Seca by 25 points over Scott Dixon.
The following three seasons showed Newgarden consistently near the top of the championship fight. In 2020, a COVID-shortened season ended with a runner-up finish to Dixon after a tense showdown at St. Petersburg. In 2021, he led the series with four pole positions and won at Mid-Ohio and Gateway, finishing second in points again. In 2022, he set a career high with five wins at Texas, Long Beach, Road America, Iowa, and Gateway, but once more ended the year as championship runner-up, this time to Will Power.
The 2023 season delivered Newgarden’s defining moment. After sweeping the Iowa Speedway doubleheader and winning at Texas, he passed Marcus Ericsson on the final lap of the Indianapolis 500 to take his first victory in the Great Spectacle in his twelfth attempt. He finished the year fifth in the standings, his eighth consecutive top-five championship finish. In 2024, he won the 108th Indianapolis 500 to become the first driver to go back-to-back at the Brickyard since Helio Castroneves 22 years earlier. He also won the 2024 24 Hours of Daytona driving the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry alongside Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr, and Dane Cameron, becoming the 16th driver to win both an Indianapolis 500 and a 24-hour race.
Driving Style and Strengths
Newgarden is widely considered a complete driver, with strong one-lap qualifying pace and polished racecraft that allows him to start near the front and convert pace into dominant wins. He is comfortable at road courses, street courses, short ovals, and superspeedways. Since 2019, his dominance on ovals, where he has won roughly half of the oval races IndyCar has contested in that span, has earned him the nickname The Oval King. On road and street circuits, he is famous for executing outside-line passes, a tactic sometimes called the Josef Newgarden Move by fellow drivers and pundits.
Notable Races and Milestones
Signature moments include his first IndyCar win at Barber Motorsports Park in 2015, the 282-of-300 laps led at Iowa in 2016, his last-lap pass of Ericsson to win the 2023 Indianapolis 500, and the 2024 Indianapolis 500 victory that placed him alongside Castroneves as a back-to-back Indy 500 winner. His 2024 24 Hours of Daytona triumph added another major endurance classic to his resume.
Josef Newgarden Career Wins
Josef Newgarden has accumulated a deep trophy case across IndyCar, Indy Lights, karting, and major endurance events. His two IndyCar Series championships came in 2017 and 2019, and he has won the Indianapolis 500 in both 2023 and 2024. He also captured the 2024 24 Hours of Daytona and has multiple junior formula titles to his name.
IndyCar Series Highlights
Newgarden has scored multiple IndyCar Series victories, including his first at Barber Motorsports Park in 2015 and his most recent at Nashville in 2025. Crown-jewel wins include the 2023 and 2024 Indianapolis 500 and a string of oval triumphs that have cemented his oval reputation. He has finished top five in the championship standings for eight consecutive seasons.
Other Wins and Performances
Beyond IndyCar, Newgarden won the 2011 Indy Lights championship with five victories and ten podiums in thirteen starts. He captured the Formula Ford Festival in 2008, becoming the first American driver to do so, and the British Formula Ford Championship runner-up spot in 2009 with nine wins. He also won the 2024 24 Hours of Daytona in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport GTP entry.
Josef Newgarden Family
Family Background and Racing Lineage
Newgarden’s parents moved from Miami, Florida, to Nashville in 1986 with their family photography business, and he was born in Nashville four years later. He has two older sisters, and the family has Danish roots on his mother’s side, which inspired his first name and gives him dual citizenship. His father’s enthusiasm for NASCAR, IndyCar, and Formula 1 helped steer the entire family toward motorsports.
Personal Life
Newgarden became engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Ashley Welch, on October 7, 2018, during a trip to Japan, and the couple married in Nashville in the fall of 2019. In 2022, the couple welcomed their first child, a daughter. Outside of racing, Newgarden hosts an annual celebrity ping-pong tournament during the month of May to benefit the SeriousFun Children’s Network, the charity founded by actor and team owner Paul Newman.
2025 Season Performance
The 2025 IndyCar Series season began with a third-place finish at St. Petersburg for Newgarden. The season quickly turned turbulent when, during qualifying for the 2025 Indianapolis 500, both Newgarden and Penske teammate Will Power failed inspection because of modified attenuators on their cars. Both entries were ordered to start at the rear of the field, had their qualification points forfeited, and were fined $100,000, while the team strategists were initially suspended and later fired.
During the Indianapolis 500, Newgarden drove forward to sixth place before retiring on lap 135 due to a fuel pressure problem, ending any chance of a three-peat. The rest of the campaign featured few podiums or poles, but momentum returned at his home race in Nashville, where Newgarden delivered a much-needed victory. With the championship fight still unfolding, the late-season win offered a clear reminder of his speed and oval strength heading into the final stretch of the year.